ESA: New milestone for Sentinel-3 reached

A satellite platform, ESA's Sentinel-3, has been reached an important milestone. It has been delivered to Prime Contractor in France and will be installed and made up for a mission to monitor earth.

Once complete, Sentinel-3 will host an array of a state of the art instruments which focuses on the measurement of different aspects of marine environments and land, as well as atmosphere and cryosphere. The first Sentinel-3 satellite is due to be launched in 2014 and in the second half of this year, it will have its array of instruments installed before going through a stringent testing programme in preparation for launch.

Furthermore, within an operationally robust and sustained near-realtime system, Sentinel-3 will provide policymakers and public authorities with the knowledge required to take decisions with confidence, prepare environmental legislation and policies, monitor their implementation and assess their socio-economic impacts and benefits.